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Transactions UK
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May 02, 2024
RPC Hires 4-Lawyer Risks Team From Mayer Brown
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP has boosted its professional liability disputes and regulatory offering with the hire of four specialists from Mayer Brown LLP to its office in London.
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April 25, 2024
Wachtell Steers Perrigo In €275M Unit Sale To Pharma Biz
Healthcare company Perrigo said Thursday that it has agreed to sell its pharmaceutical division for rare diseases to pharmaceutical company Esteve Healthcare SL for €275 million ($295 million) in a deal guided by Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Clifford Chance LLP.
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April 25, 2024
AIM-Listed Mineral Co. Eyes £19M Merger With Gold Miner
Ariana Resources PLC said Thursday it has agreed to an all-share merger worth £19.4 million ($24.3 million) with Rockover Holdings Ltd., a Zimbabwe-focused gold miner, as the London-listed mineral explorer aims to expand its presence in Africa.
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April 25, 2024
Hipgnosis Ditches Blackstone Bid For Concord's $1.5B Offer
Hipgnosis Songs has accepted a revised offer from its U.S. competitor Concord Chorus to buy the music rights investor for $1.5 billion, ditching Blackstone's $1.2 billion offer just days after accepting the private equity giant's deal.
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May 02, 2024
Travers Smith To Lose 2 Private Equity Partners To Goodwin
Goodwin Procter LLP said on Thursday that it has recruited two private equity specialists from Travers Smith LLP as the U.K. law firm battles to regain its footing after its partner losses hit double digits in 2023.
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April 25, 2024
BHP Bids £31B For Linklaters-Led Rival Miner Anglo American
BHP Group said Thursday that it has offered to buy out Anglo American in a transaction valuing the British multinational at £31.1 billion ($38.9 billion), as the Australian mining giant looks to bolster its commodities portfolio.
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April 24, 2024
Ex-Autonomy GC Tells Jurors He Wanted To Be 'Helpful' To HP
Autonomy's former U.S. general counsel conceded Wednesday in the criminal trial of former CEO Michael Lynch that he told an HP lawyer he wanted to be as "helpful" as possible to the company as it was investigating Autonomy-related issues that popped up after the Silicon Valley giant purchased the British company, and that he was told he could face liability for his work at Autonomy.
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April 24, 2024
SPAC Says Potential £22M Engineering Biz Takeover Scrapped
Rockpool Acquisitions PLC, a special purpose acquisition company, on Wednesday announced the termination of its planned takeover worth approximately £22 million of Amcomri Group Ltd., saying it will look elsewhere for other deals.
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April 24, 2024
CMA Chair Defends Agency's Interventionist Merger Approach
The chair of the Competition and Markets Authority has defended the U.K.'s antitrust watchdog's aggressive and interventionist attitude, saying it helps drive the country's "economic growth and productivity."
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April 24, 2024
UK Eyes Amazon, Microsoft AI Deals For Merger Probes
The U.K.'s antitrust watchdog said Wednesday it would look into Amazon's $4 billion investment in U.S.-based artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, and Microsoft Corp.'s deals with two other big AI players, to see if they fall under the country's merger control rules.
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April 24, 2024
Regulator Says Half Of Retirement Plans Ready For Buyout
Half of the 5,000-plus defined benefit pension schemes in Britain are expected to have exceeded their estimated buyout funding levels, the Pensions Regulator said Wednesday, giving trustees and employers a chance to reassess their long-term objectives.
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April 24, 2024
Osborne Clarke Guides Canada Life's £46M Lexmark Deal
Insurer Canada Life has agreed to a £46 million ($57 million) buy-in with the pension scheme of printing business Lexmark Holdings Inc. in a transaction guided by Osborne Clarke LLP.
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April 24, 2024
Container Giant MSC Offers $700M For Shipping Rival
A subsidiary of MSC, one of the world's largest container shipping companies, said on Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Gram Car Carriers for 7.6 billion Norwegian kroner ($692 million), in a deal steered by Advokatfirmaet Thommessen AS.
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April 24, 2024
GXO Gets UK All-Clear For £762M Bid For Logistics Biz
GXO Logistics Inc. said Wednesday that the U.K. government has granted national security clearance to its proposed £762 million ($950 million) takeover of British supply-chain group Wincanton PLC.
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April 24, 2024
Ithaca Energy Inks £754M Deal For Eni's UK Oil, Gas Sites
Ithaca Energy has agreed to buy a "substantial" portion of the U.K. oil and gas-producing assets of Eni of Italy for approximately £754 million ($937 million) as the independent operator eyes expansion in the North Sea.
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April 23, 2024
Ex-Autonomy Tech Exec Doubted 'Bizarre' $6M Deal, Jury Told
Autonomy's ex-chief technology officer testified Tuesday in the California federal fraud trial of former CEO Michael Lynch that he had concerns about Autonomy's "bizarre" 2010 deal to sell $6 million in repackaged hardware, which prosecutors allege was never delivered and was only used to artificially inflate Autonomy's revenues.
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April 23, 2024
Grain Co.'s $18B Deal Raises Competition Flags For Canada
Canada's competition enforcer said Tuesday it has concerns over grain and seed supplier Bunge Ltd.'s plan to buy global grain trader Viterra Ltd. in an $18 billion deal, saying the acquisition could result in lower prices paid to farmers and higher prices for refined canola oil.
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April 23, 2024
RGL Confirms Woodford Claim Against Hargreaves Lansdown
RGL Group confirmed Tuesday it is pursuing a fresh claim against investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown over the collapse of Woodford Equity Investment Fund.
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April 23, 2024
Weil-Led PE Firm Buys Audio Tech Biz Audiotonix
French private equity firm PAI Partners said Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire a majority stake in British audio technology business Audiotonix from its rival investment firm Ardian, in a deal guided by Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.
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April 23, 2024
Energy Biz Kistos Completes £25M Buy Of EDF Unit
Kistos Holdings PLC said on Tuesday that it has completed its £25 million ($31 million) purchase of EDF Energy (Gas Storage) Ltd. after winning the necessary clearance required under national security rules.
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April 23, 2024
Oil Biz 88 Energy To Raise $6.3M In Equity In UK, Australia
Oil and gas explorer 88 Energy said Tuesday that it plans to raise approximately 9.8 million Australian dollars ($6.3 million) with a share placing in London and Australia to help pay for development of major projects.
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April 23, 2024
15 Pension Mega-Deals Forecast In Coming Months
The U.K. pension deals market is set for another record year, with around 15 mega transactions worth up to £30 billion ($37 billion) expected to go ahead in the next few months, a retirement savings consultancy said Tuesday.
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April 23, 2024
KKR Pushes Smart Metering Investors To Accept £1.3B Bid
Private equity giant KKR on Tuesday urged the shareholders of British energy infrastructure company Smart Metering who have not yet accepted its £1.3 billion ($1.6 billion) takeover offer to submit their shares by May 7.
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April 23, 2024
Freshfields-Led JD Sports Agrees To Buy US Rival For $1.1B
JD Sports said on Tuesday that it has proposed to buy U.S. athletic fashion retailer Hibbet Inc. for approximately $1.08 billion as the U.K. sportswear store chain eyes expansion in the American southeast.
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April 22, 2024
Freshfields-Led CVC Unveils Range On $1.7B Amsterdam IPO
European private equity giant CVC Capital Partners PLC, represented by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, on Monday set a price range on initial public offering estimated to raise about €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion), mostly benefiting selling shareholders.
Expert Analysis
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EU Antitrust Rules Set To Pose Challenges To US Businesses
With stark differences between U.S. and European Union antitrust regimes, and potential for the forthcoming EU guidelines to turbocharge the commission's appetite for intervention, it is important that U.S. businesses with activities in the region take note of the reforms, say Andrea Pomana and Sarah Wilks at Mayer Brown.
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German Competition Law May Herald New Enforcement Trend
The recent amendment to the German Act against Restraints of Competition is expected to significantly expand the powers of the German Federal Cartel Office, and could signal a global trend toward greater direct intervention by national competition authorities and political interference in competition law, say lawyers at Simmons & Simmons.
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How The OECD Global Tax Proposal Could Affect M&A
Following agreement on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Pillar Two proposal to introduce a global minimum tax, domestic implementation is expected to have a significant impact on international M&A transactions, with financial modeling, deal structuring, risk allocation and joint venture arrangements likely to be affected, say lawyers at Freshfields.
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A Look At German And French Merger Control Trends In 2023
Merger control statistics from the first half of 2023 in Germany and France — key merger control jurisdictions with strict enforcement and sophisticated analysis tools — highlight trends on the length and number of investigations by the respective authorities, say Laurence Bary and Clemens Graf York von Wartenburg at Dechert.
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UK Shares-Tax Proposals Offer Long-Awaited Modernization
The U.K. government's recent consultation on the introduction of a new tax on transactions in securities raises detailed legal and practical issues, but the prospect of a single digital stamp tax offering both streamlined legislation and administration will be welcomed, say Zoë Arnautov and Mark Sheiham at Simmons & Simmons.
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EU Illumina-Grail Fine Cools Cos.' Merger Control Approach
The European Commission's recent record-breaking fine on Illumina for acquiring Grail without approval underscores its tough stance on merger control enforcement, showing that companies in Europe need to be vigilant in complying with regulatory requirements, say Salomé Cisnal de Ugarte and Raphaël Fleischer at King & Spalding.
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EU Case Shows Wide Approach To Blocking Telecom Mergers
The EU court's recent judgment in Commission v. CK Telecoms may make it more challenging to secure clearance for telecom and other companies pursuing mergers, illustrating its broad approach to mergers that risk harming competition without creating a dominant position, say Dominic Long and Christopher Best at Allen & Overy.
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PR Perspectives: Getting Merger Communications Right
As the recent Allen & Overy and Shearman Sterling deal announcement demonstrates, controlling the narrative is the priority when merger discussions begin, so law firms need to consider their stakeholder base and the best communication channels for each segment, ready to adapt to the audience group's needs, say Ben Girdlestone and Bethany Durkin at Byfield.
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Trustees Should Take Caution After UK Pension Tap Plan
The U.K. government's recent plan to boost technology startups by tapping into pension sector funds may risk the hard-earned savings of members, so trustees need to be mindful of the proposals in light of their fiduciary duties, say Beth Brown and Riccardo Bruno at Arc Pensions.
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Report On UK Investment Act Offers Welcome Insights
The U.K. government's recent report on the National Security and Investment Act's first full year of operation is to be applauded for disclosing more information on the act's notification system than was required, enabling a better understanding of what has taken place and what the next year may hold, say Andrea Hamilton and Ajal Notowicz at Milbank.
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Preparing For M&A Under The Foreign Subsidies Regulation
The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation introduces requirements that companies operating in the region must consider in M&A transactions, and any foreign financial contributions received by a target should be checked during the due diligence stage, with specific provisions for commission approval if a notification requirement is triggered, say Hendrik Viaene and Stéphane Dionnet at McDermott.
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Important Generative AI Considerations In M&A
The recent surge of interest in generative artificial intelligence and its use of machine learning algorithms means there are novel concerns as well as inherent risks for those engaging in M&A activity, and acquirers should pay careful attention to a target’s scope of ownership and licensing rights, say attorneys at Davis Polk.
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Pension Trustee Case Could Lead To Fossil Fuels Divestment
While the recent Court of Appeal case McGaughey v. Universities Superannuation Scheme attempts to link fossil fuel investment by trustees to significant risk of financial detriment, it is concerning that two out of 470,000 scheme members could be permitted to bring a claim without ensuring that other members are represented, says Anna Metadjer at Kingsley Napley.
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Green Loans May Be Hungary's Path To Sustainable Financing
Fueled by a rising trend in the use of green loans, Hungary is making impressive progress in its journey toward achieving a net-zero future, although the development of social and sustainability-linked loans is still a work in progress, say Gergely Szalóki and Bálint Bodó at Schönherr.
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Tackling Global Inflation Is A Challenge For Antitrust Agencies
Recent events have put pressure on antitrust agencies to address the global cost-of-living crisis, but the relationship between competition and inflation is complex, and with competition agencies’ reluctance to act as price regulators, enforcement is unlikely to have a meaningful impact, say lawyers at Linklaters.